Simulation of Emergency Collision of a Magnetic Levitation Train With an Obstacle

Abstract

In the last decades much attention has been focused on improving the passive safety of automobile, aviation, railway and shipbuilding vehicles by means of development of special energy-absorbing devices (EAD). The operation principle of such devices is to absorb the kinetic energy of the collision with the obstacle by means of the controlled irreversible deformation of its own design [1]. The article proposes to implement these devices and passive safety systems to assess their effectiveness. The solution of this issue was carried out by the authors' methods of numerical simulation of emergency collision of a rolling stock with an obstacle [2-4]. The article demonstrates the simulated emergency crash system of the passenger magnetic levitation train. It consists of a front and undercar crash-modules. The first is mounted on the end part of the head car of the train to absorb the collision energy with a large obstacle in case of an accident. The second is designed to reduce the consequences of collisions with obstacles of relatively small sizes, able to break the floor or damage undercar equipment at high speed. Various designs and materials used for manufacturing of EAD were theoretically investigated using the developed model of emergency collision. In the result the assessment of work effectiveness of the designed emergency crash-system in accordance with the existing regulatory requirements for traffic safety was carried out.